Searching Student Records

PowerSchool provides powerful tools to search the database of students at your school.
On the PowerSchool start page, use the box labeled "Search Students" to find students by surname. For example, enter MA to find all students
whose last names begin with MA.

Field / Value Searching
PowerSchool stores student information in fields. For example, the "first_name" field stores the students' first names. The "DOB" filed stores the
students' date-of-birth. Search the various student fields based on the information you are looking for.
The following is an example of how to search student records.
Suppose you would like to find all of the students in your school whose first name is Jenny. Type the following into the search box:
first_name=jenny
PowerSchool displays the search results for all students named Jenny. This is a search command line; a line of text that is commanding
PowerSchool to perform a search.
Every search command line is broken into three parts: a field name (such as first_name or grade_level or DOB); a comparator (such as =); and the
search argument itself (in the example, jenny is the search argument).
The general format is:
[field name] [comparator] [search argument]
On the PowerSchool start page, select the View Field List link below the Search Students box to view a list of available field names.
The following table lists the comparators you can use:
Comparator Meaning
= equals
< is less than
> is greater than
<= is less than or equal to
>= is greater than or equal to
# does not equal
in is [field] present in the search argument?
contains is the search argument contained in the [field]?
!contain is the search argument not contained in the [field]?
@ wildcard
The comparator "in" is a powerful tool that allows you to verify if the value of the field matches any search argument in a list you provide. For
example, to obtain a single list of all 9th, 10th, and 11th graders in your school, enter the following search command line:
grade_level in 9,10,11
PowerSchool displays all students whose grade level is contained in the list 9, 10, and 11. In this example, the field is "grade_level", the comparator
is "in", and the search argument is "9,10,11". The search function looks at the specified field for every student and checks to see if that field
matches anything in the search argument specified. When entering a search command line, separate a list of items in a search argument with
commas.
The comparator "contains" is another powerful search tool. For example, you want to find all of the students in your school who live on Cherry
Lane. Enter the following search command line:
mailing_street contains Cherry Lane
PowerSchool displays all students with Cherry Lane appearing in the mailing_street field. It does not matter if the mailing_street field is 194 Cherry
Lane, or 24230 Cherry Lane Parkway; anything that contains Cherry Lane is considered a match.
The comparator "!contain" provides another search function. For example, you wanted to find all of the students in your school who do not live on
Cherry Lane. Enter the following search command line:
mailing_street !contain Cherry Lane
PowerSchool displays all students with Cherry Lane not appearing anywhere in the mailing_street field. It does not matter if the mailing_street field
is 194 Cherry Lane, or 24230 Cherry Lane Parkway; anything that contains Cherry Lane is not considered a match.
The wildcard "@" provides additional search flexibility. For example, you want to find all of the students whose first names started with jen. Enter
the following search command line:
first_name = jen@
PowerSchool displays all students with the first name that begins with jen.

Special Groups
In addition to simple field/value searching, you may search for special groups, such as "transferred-in". With a single command in the search field,
you can select a set of students using criteria which would be impossible to reproduce using simple field/value searching, and which would take a
significant amount of effort to produce using the "search in results" functionality.
Search Who is Selected
transferred!in
All students who have been transferred into this school, but not yet re-enrolled. In database terms, this means that the "SchoolID"
is for the current school, but the "Enrollment_SchoolID" is for some other school, AND that the "Enroll_Status" field is "2"
("Transferred Out"). The "/" prefix is implied on this search. This is the equivalent of searching "/Enroll_Status=2",
"&/Enrollment_SchoolID#[my school number]".

Search Prefixes
There are three search prefixes you may wish to use. A search prefix adjusts how the search is carried out. Note that you will always follow the
prefix by a search term; a prefix is never valid all by itself on the search line.
Prefix Effect on Search Line
/
Include non-active students. Normal searches are restricted to the actively enrolled student body of the school. However, especially when
transferring students in from another school, you may sometimes wish to locate students who are no longer or not yet active. Use this
prefix to search across ALL students (ie, active and inactive). Note that this may be placed AFTER (not before) a "+" or "&" prefix.
&
Search within results. For example, to find all students transferred in after 4/10/2006, search first for "transferred-in", then search for
"&/ExitDate>4/10/2006". Note that the "&" must come BEFORE any "/" prefix.
+
Add results of new search. For example, to find all tenth graders and all ninth graders with the field "InstrLevel" set to "Advanced" you
might search for "Grade_Level=9" and then "&InstrLevel=Advanced", and finally for "+Grade_Level=10". Note that the "+" must come
BEFORE any "/" prefix.
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